Automatic metadata generator

You can use the metadata generator to create XML metadata for video files.

Basic usage

Start by switching to a directory with some video files (e.g. cd C:\videos):

C:\Videos>dir /b
11 Pink.mpg
12 Banker.mpg
13 Game.mpg

Execute the script with the Python interpreter, using the -m switch:

C:\Videos> python -m vod_metadata

After it runs (it can take a bit for the checksums to be calculated) you should have minimal valid metadata files for the videos in the directory:

C:\Videos>dir /b
11 Pink.mpg
11 Pink_1442.xml
12 Banker.mpg
12 Banker_2743.xml
13 Game.mpg
13 Game_5056.xml

Including previews and posters

To incorporate a preview and/or poster element for the file something.mpg:

• Put a something_preview.mpg file in the same directory

• Put a something_poster.bmp file in the same directory.

• Put a something_box_cover.bmp file in the same directory.

The preview file must have the same extension as the movie file, and the poster / box cover can have either a .bmp or .jpg extension.

Command line options

Process videos in a particular directory with the --video-dir argument.

C:\Videos>python -m vod_metadata  --video-dir "C:\Somewhere\Videos"

Specify a different metadata template (useful for adding custom values) with the --template-path argument.

C:\Videos>python -m vod_metadata  --template-path "C:\Somewhere\template.xml"

Change what values are used when generating metadata files by specifying the path to a config file (example):

C:\Videos>python -m vod_metadata  --config-path "C:\Somewhere\config.ini"

Troubleshooting

If you find that you get a RuntimeError: MediaInfo not found. error message, you can specify the path to MediaInfo on the command line:

C:\Videos>python -m vod_metadata  --mediainfo-path "C:\Somewhere\MediaInfo.exe"

Be sure that you’ve got the command line (CLI) version of MediaInfo and not the GUI version.